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Topic Review (Newest First)

08-16-2007 11:14 AM

rewell6

Looks like Rick tried to give me a beat down. However I have been trailering since I was 13 (lived on a farm) and the only time I felt I even needed a sway bar was on our 26' travel trailer. Tractors and farm equipment on the roads before I even had a license, boats, lawn equipment, cargo trailers, auto transports, toads, you name it. Even a tractor trailer, yes I have a CDL, for about 8 years now. Never had an accident, never.

Rick please point out the minsinformation. I will definately eat my words, repost the corrections and make an apology on this board for being a bumbling idiot. I'm sure there are no other bumbling idiots here.

You don't even follow your own advice that you so freely give on trailer tounge loading?

Our new to us "stink potter" with the 1% tongue weight, well we purchased it this way. I haven't decided if I want to change the tongue weight or not yet. I am in the middle of repowering it. I merely stated our 1% because there is no standard for tongue weight % and our set up works great so far. I have seen 5-10%, 7-9%, 10-15% recommendations. What might be right on 1 set up may not work on another. We have a 3/4ton suburban and it is heavy and long, a shorter, lighter vehicle this might not work with.

Yes and No. If you have "hydraulic surge" brakes, the brakes work when you slow down and the momentum of the trailer tries to catch up with you which "surges" the trailer forward, activating the hydraulic plunger in the actuator. This compresses the brake fluid and activates the brakes. Most anti-sway bars or load equalizer bars attach from the towing vehicle to the frame or the trailer and prevent the trailer from surging forward, and therefore prevent the brakes from working. There are a few companies now making an anti-sway bar that is made specifically to work with hydraulic surge brakes. This is the only acceptable ones that you can use and still have your trailer brakes work."

Most sway bars are designed to work on "A" frame trailers and electric brakes, not pole trailers and surge brakes, which is what a boat trailer is. A boat doesn't have near the amount of frontal area that a travel trailer or cargo trailer has. A sway bar is not designed to fix a bad setup, it is only to help control the sway. If your trailer is swaying uncontrollably a sway bar will not "fix" it.

How can I scare the hell out of you, it would take a 2 day drive to get here. And if you drove in Atlanta traffic you would learn how to be a "menance to highway safety" as well.

08-16-2007 03:55 AM

retclt

Thanks! 8'-6" is perfect! Leagal almost anywhere you'd want to go. Our Chrysler 26 is 8'-0". It allows us to cruise Galveston bay, St. Andrews, Pamlico or anywhere else we would wish to go on our limited (time and money) budget.

08-15-2007 07:09 PM

Lancer28

retclt - 8'6" i believe on the lancer yachts' mkIII 28'

08-15-2007 05:16 PM

Wayne25

One item that I think has been overlooked is the proper height of the hitch in relation to the trailer axles. Depending on what your towing with and if you have an adjustable height on the ball, you could be loading up either the front or rear axle of the trailer. Both can cause sway and overload the trailer tire rating. For example, if you tow with a 4 WD pick up your hitch height is probably going to be higher than 2 WD vehicles. If you don't adjust the ball height to have a level trailer, you will put more weight on one of the trailer axles and therefore tires. You can see this at the spring connection point between the front and rear trailer tires. That pivoting lever that holds the spring ends should be level.

08-15-2007 04:04 PM

blt2ski

If you live near a DOT scale on the side of the freeway, you can weigh your rig for free if it is not open, otherwise, stay away from it and let teh big rigs go thru! I do this a lot with my rigs just to verify my wts etc. A dump scale will work, as will any other place that has a public scale, landscape supply, gravel pit, moving van/storage places..........

Try to keep the hitch wt to that 10-15% range, I find 17-18% is nice for single axel trailers vs 13-15% for tandems. Max wt depending upon the year of GM you have, is probably 5000/500 dead wt, and 10K/1000HW with a weight distribution. Some newer ones will be 7500/750 or 12500/1250 with a WD system. If you have a titan IV like on my GM dually, you are good to 12500/1250 or 14K/1750 w a WD system. But I have a 2.5" reciever.

Some receivers are good to 10K/1000 like my Torklift hitch on my 96 GM truck, no matter if dead wt or WD setup. As I tow an equipment trailer with 1500-1600 HW< and 10500-11K on the axels with a pintle hitch, so a WD is not applicable, as would a boat trailer with surge brakes.

Now that's pretty low. But your probably right, how many trailer sailboats do you actually see at a ramp?

A couple of years ago we had a travel trailer and I spent a lot of time on the RV forum reading about trailer weights and blowouts. You'd be suprised how close the tires are maxed out and how many drive overweight and know it. Especially the truck camper guys pulling trailers. Some are way over.

One thing I did learn is everybody that trailers a boat or anything else should weigh it. Maybe there should be an endorsement on the drivers license to be able to trailer. Something simple that would make people realize how dangerous trailering really is.

08-14-2007 03:30 PM

resdog

Sounds like you've solved your problem. I was going to say that every Carlisle trailer tire I have ever owned has blown. They always had the proper tire pressure. I will never buy another.

I have had very good luck with Goodyear Marathon trailer tires.

08-14-2007 01:51 PM

retclt

The tire theif was probably a power boater.

Lancer,What's the beam measurement on a Lancer 28?

08-14-2007 12:12 PM

Lancer28

Thanks guys, and I'm going to weigh it later this week, already "on the docket" so to say. It's $7.00 on a cat scale near my house; we used to make our drivers go there when we owned a set of trucks and a brokerage.

08-14-2007 12:06 PM

sailingdog

Lancer-

Well, at least you know what the hell was causing the problem... but it sucks that someone would be such a low-life... it could have cost you a lot more than a set of tires. I'd report the theft to the local police as well as complain to Chatfields... or whereever the trailer was when the tires disappeared.

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